looking for forever

chapter no.8

proposals and preparations

Amber walked through the front door after her date with Brandon, her boyfriend of three years, especially happy. Kelly automatically knew something was different.

"Amber, why are you so –"

"BRANDON PROPOSED!" Amber couldn't contain her excitement any longer. Kelly screamed with delight and hugged her sister tightly.

"Oh, A, I'm so happy for you! That's incredible! Brandon is such a lucky guy!" Kelly squealed, genuinely overjoyed for her sister.

"I was wondering, Kel..." Amber started, a smile playing on her perfectly pink lipsticked lips. "Would you be my maid of honor?" This time it was Kelly who couldn't contain her excitement. Kelly screamed so loud that the two eavesdropping siblings upstairs laughed, almost giving away their position.

"I would love to, Amber! Oh, I can't wait!" Kelly hugged her sister again.

"Oh, and Sierra?" Amber called to the not-so-subtle eavesdropping sister.

"Yeah?" Sierra asked, poking her head out of her hiding place.

"Would you like to be a bridesmaid?" Amber asked. Kelly beam of joy matched Sierra's as she squealed a 'Yes'.

"Hey, what am I?" Andrew asked, offended.

"Brandon, wanted me to ask if you wanted to be his Best Man? He said, and I quote, 'I don't have any blood siblings and Andrew's the closest to a little brother I've got'." Amber said. Andrew didn't squeal or scream with joy. He nodded his head and replied the obvious answer.

"Yeah, I'll do it."

"So here's what I was thinking, Kel. I want a non-traditional wedding. I want my dress to be a pastel kind of color and the bridesmaids and Maid of Honor," Amber winked at Kelly, "should have beautiful white flow-y gowns." Kelly scratched these down on her white and pink notepad with her mechanical pencil. "I want it to be really pretty floral decorations too, something white mixed with a light and a dark pink."

"So like a little bunch of stephanotis mixed with a little bit of light pink veronica and hot pink roses?" Kelly scribbled it down as Amber nodded.

"Kelly, I really think you have a future in wedding design." Amber said, tapping her chin. "You knew exactly what flowers to choose. Now we need to search for my dress –"

"First, we need to find the other bridesmaids and guests." Kelly held up her pointer finger as if to say, one step at a time.

"Brandon and I will talk about the guests together, but you're right, I do need some other bridesmaids. How about you search wedding shops while I call of few of my college friends?" Kelly and Amber both nodded and walked in separate directions, Amber to get her phone and Kelly to grab her Apple MacBook Air from the kitchen table.

Kelly tapped quickly away at her keys, googling 'quality wedding shops' and hitting enter. Many sources came up but one in particular caught her eye.

"Hm, The Lady in White. Perfect." She clicked the link and a beautifully executed page popped up. It had pretty name cards options, flower bouquet ideas, wedding dress shopping, tuxedo shopping, bridesmaid dress shopping, wedding cake designs, after party inspirational ideas, you name it, this place had it. And the best news of all was that it was an actual store, not just online, so you could go there in person.

"Find anything yet?" Amber called from the other room, putting on hand on the phone so the person she was calling couldn't hear her.

"Yeah, I found this really great place! It's right by the –"

"That sounds great!" Amber said into the phone. Probably a bridesmaid accepting her position. Kelly giggled at her sister, Amber had always been a multitasker. She could never focus on one thing at a time. It had to multiple things.

"Okay, Google, get me directions to The Lady in White wedding boutique." Kelly said to her computer, opening a new tab and searching for directions.

"You're not talking to your computer are you?" Andrew asked, and for the first time Kelly noticed him looking over her shoulder at her work.

"Um, no. I was talking to Google, the search engine." Kelly replied sassily, clicking the first link that popped up. Sure enough there were the directions. She pulled out her iPhone 5s and typed in the address into her Google Maps. "Sweet, it's only 11 minutes away!" She closed her laptop, feeling successful, and trotted over to her sister. She set the laptop on the counter as her sister talked into her iPhone 6. Amber held up a single hand, gesturing for her to wait.

"Thanks, Lizzy! Yeah I can't wait to see you there. Caio!" Amber said and ended the call. "Alright show me what you found."

Kelly opened her computer and clicked the left tab, opening the home page of The Lady in White website. Amber browsed for a couple of minutes before clapping her hands excitedly.

"This is perfect, Kel! How far is it?" Amber asked.

"Only 11 minutes from here, actually!" Kelly announced, just as excited as Amber. Amber squealed and tossed Kelly her the keys with the pink dice key chain.

"I'm too ecstatic to drive!" Amber yelled and ran outside.

Okay, maybe a little bit less excited.

"But, I can't –"

"Relax, princess, I'll drive. I have my permit." Andrew said, taking the keys. "Just as long as you sit in the front seat." Andrew winked.

Wow, Kelly thought, He is really flirtatious today. Weird.

Kelly agreed and headed to the driveway. Andrew clicked the keys and a white Audi Q5 roared to life.

"It's not the best car but..." Amber trailed off, seating herself in the backseat with Sierra. Kelly climbed into the front seat as Andrew closed the driver's side door.

"Let's set some ground-rules. First, Andrew, since you're the Best Man you can't see any of the wedding dresses that Amber tries on. Second, Sierra, you and I are going to need to pick out the bridesmaid dresses along with helping pick out the actual wedding dress. Finally, we all need to help with the other decor, like the cake and the name cards and the lights. All of that." Kelly finished, looking in the mirror at the passengers. They nodded their approval and Kelly smiled. "Good. Now let's get this show on the road."